The Devastator is not so much a tank as a form of hybrid vehicle codenamed a "Land Destroyer"; combining the roles of a naval destroyer, heavy tank, self-propelled howitzer and mobile command vehicle............................................................................The RA2 Apocalypse Tank was regarded by many as little more than a general tank that is individually superior- but overall inferior cost-effectively to the smaller, faster rhino;

The Devastator surpasses the previous class of ultra-heavy tanks by firing long-ranged naval guns at their targets- decimating most vehicles in a single shot, well out of reach for them to retaliate (keep in mind the range is still considerably less than what standard howitzers, naval units and self-propelled missile units can achieve).

Its disadvantage is that the latest Devestator had been rushed through production before technicians could find a way to equip the full package- meaning these vehicles are sent to the field with only their main guns;-Roof-mounted gunners are rationed only to elite crews;-The SAM system and chassis gunner systems must be installed separately, and unfortunately the vehicle is only capable of accommodating one upgrade...........................................................................

Well, design wise this vehicle had been darned tricky;The idea was to make it look like a completely stand-alone vehicle type that needed its own special design specs;

For example, when you design a tank, you design a vehicle that can fit around the crew in an effective, but compact manner (at least as much as possible)- and as such the whole design is made to fit around the crew compartment;-For THIS thing, accomodating crew is an afterthought considering how large it is- and the armour is built more around the engine- with a few tiny entrance points and cockpits here and there nestled deep inside.

I tried to mix bits and pieces of Russian Self-propelled artillery and troop-carriers, heavy tanks, and of course important details of the classic CNC Mammoth-type tanks, to try to make this thing look about right.

It has gone through MANY forms- either ones that looked way to delicate, bad proportions, or looked too much like the Mauler

Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to critique it!

PS- the words scrawled on the side translate to "Mister Furious" (courtesy of Translation2 online English-Russian translation)

1- The intent for this tank is simply to blast open any other vehicle in one volley (one or both of the shots fired at once), so nerfs are strictly a very low rate of fire and extreme price

2- Lol- forgot about the radiation leaks. The worst part is I did some research on nuclear power and learned to my dismay that a nuclear-powered tank isn't actually possible (Well, it is possible, provided the tank drives very close to a river at all times and runs a few hoses into it as it drives along)

Cheers- my idea was it was kinda pointless having a second tank (as RA2 players actually deduced it was more cost-effective to just make Rhinos for the same price).Thus, I decided a better idea would be to trade armour for range (and damage), making this unit a kind of bizarre support-fire unit that players would hopefully crave for its excellent reach (obviously far less than any artillery unit- but outranging any combat unit).

If you drive the BF over the Apoc, definitely; generally, probably yes also (as this is now a national unit, it obviously should be better).Noting that the BF and Apoc cost way more each (making them both more vulnerable to anti-tank infantry who are effectively half as expensive as before)- but the new Apoc has much longer range and its guns are now much more specialized to killing enemy vehicles- so it'd be a close one.

but still, come to think about it, that disadvantage you've stated, i don't think its much of a disadvangtage in anyway, since this is a command vehicle, you can bet that it will go into the field with escort, thus i feel that there is not even a need to have the add-on.

Plus, this sick puppy is actually a gigantic self-propelled gun instead of a tank, so it can actually hit things out of the reach of most tanks and combat units (but is still hugely outpaced by artillery- to be fair that is).

Sorta- considering that the Apocalypse took out the mammoth tank- but more importantly, the Devastator is a bit different functionally- its more half-way between a mammoth-tank and a mammoth-howitzer (with its attack range somewhere in between)- acting as a heavy-damage skirmish unit rather than a heavy-combat or heavy-siege unit.

And yes it does make it vulnerable to airstrikes!The downside of its massive size (and thus weaponry) is that a squad of fighters could probably demolish one; Furthermore, it is also vulnerable to sappers planting bombs on it. The price it pays for having the power to demolish most enemy vehicles from outside their range.

Of course, it can accomodate one upgrade to have some anti-infantry installed on the hull- or a surface-to-air-missile system to give it some extra protection; although it still ultimately needs other units to cover for it!

I... dont know what to say... its probably the most badass Soviet ultra-heavy tank I have ever seen

The design, I can clearly see there an aspects of IS-3 and partially IS-7 (sloped V-shaped armour), RA2 Apocalypse Tank (overall appearence), Mammoth Tank (angular turret) and partially Object 279 ( doubled tracks). It looks really great, and will be good to model

The only place I fear off is the backside of the hull and turret, and the turret as it is also rounded, but that wont be much big problem But the cannons are. That they are short, that isnt problem, it more implies that they are not capable of firing into the same ranges as normal naval guns, but the diameter is small. The holes would be larger

Regarding the back of the Chassis; I'm happy for your suggestions and personal touches! Turret rear I'd probably just stick a couple of ladders on (or ladder textures), possibly the odd box in between them; though I'm still not entirely sure if I will mount the missile launchers on the sides of the turret (traditional mammoth/apocalpyse style) or actually have them sitting on the roof- or hanging over the back yet; probably the only thing I can really point out for that part;(also, the space between the two roof driver hatches I plan to place the portable AA radar- just to add an extra effect that this vehicle is more a platform for whatever crazy stuff the technicians can mount on it).

And what you say about the naval guns is actually perfectly fine; the tank is actually meant to be much shorter-ranged than a naval unit (or for that matter, a regular artillery unit); but generally can out-range absolutely everything else.Otherwise enemies would be in a LOT of trouble!

I guess traditionally on the sides, that would be fine. In the model of RA2 Apocalypse i made, i also placed two mortars on the backside of the turret, it looked quite good, but there it will too much overkill I am just little worried about implementing the rocket launchers. I mean, how will you be able to add them on the Devastator? How will this upgrade work?

No problem! The SAM AA system works as follows; Unlike the Apocalypse Tank and Mammoth Tanks, the Devastator does NOT come standard with any anti-air weaponry, and the player must actually manually install it into each tank before the Devastator can engage air units.

The upgrade system is a lot like the Overlord from Generals; only each upgrade is geared more to cover one of its major weaknesses- either:-Surface-to-air missiles for fighting back at aircraft-machinegun nests to help keep infantry demolitionists away-possibly radioactive shells to smoke out tightly grouped counter-attackers, forcing well-placed defenders to ditch their posts and attack from another angle.Although each of these is actually overall inferior to using Flak units, conscripts guarding its flanks, and charge-units to take on tight enemy groups respectively, they help even the odds in event that the enemy player is coming down heavy with aircraft, hordes of soldiers or lots of long-ranged attack units grouped together;

I know what you mean; that's the reason why I've been so indecisive about which engine to use, as they all have their drawbacks; Between building, upgrading, selecting, use of powers, special function attacks, mind-control, magnetism, water units, multi-form units, they all have their own distinct abilities and inabilities- which is very annoying of course.Individual upgrades is something I *might* be able to do without- though I would definitely prefer not as it really makes a huge difference to the kind of units I'm making.

It can be probably done, as a sort of Support Power (or Generals power to make it easier to imagine). This upgrade gives you ability to upgrade several "units" in the area with what you want. Like this Support Power is "Depleted Uranium Shells". You will select ti and than aim it on group of two Maulers and one Devastator. Now, when you will use the power (which will affect an area, not only one unit) on this group, only Devastator (or also Maulers) will be affected by this power, which will gives it a permanent bonus. Like this, it might work. When there will be also Mastermind, despite the fact it was in the area of effect, it wont gain the bonus of Depleted Uranium Shells.

That would probably work fine actually- though I still think having the option for individual upgrades makes balancing a lot easier. As it means that the balance repercussions of giving the goodies to a beast like the Devastator is instantly tempered by the more rigorous obstacle of having to buy the upgrade for each Devastator you want to augment (and of course, making each upgrade really expensive means I could alternatively make their upgrades fairly substantial, knowing that players might still actually opt to leave them as standard models and improvise around its weaknesses using other units- unless the enemy was seriously spamming one type of unit and the player knew that he/she's need all the bonuses that can be applied;

By the way- hovercraft are coming along very nicely; they're probably the quickest, easiest units I've worked on yet;